chronicles of an igorot in australia. a photoblog in parts, this is intended as a diary, travelogue, memoir, journal, palimpsest, igorot blog, accounts of misadventures, running battles or whatever it turns out to be. there might be souls out there with common interests. do post a comment.

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

bridge to brisbane 2011

11/09/11. 42,500 people entered the 2011 bridge to Brisbane 5km and 10 km fun runs. They can't be wrong. The race started from the south end of the gateway
bridges (Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges) and finished at Brisbane's ekka grounds.

It was a windy couple of days leading to the 15th
running of the bridge-to-Brisbane last Sunday. There was
even some good rain on the Friday though you wouldn’t know it come the
afternoon. I went for a little jog that evening and most of the rainwater had evaporated
or got absorbed by whatever kind of sponge was in the ground. There were no puddles or mud. The land was still
as dry as the previous winter long.

Saturday was quite windy too. I stayed indoors mostly except
to buy the paper and some milk and food. It was blowy well into the night on
the eve of the b2b funrun.

The morning of the race was cold as expected and I rugged up
in some old clothes worn over my running gear. I drove to Bowen Hills arriving
there around 0445h. The streets looked deserted except for some nightowls, nightshift
roadworkers, midnight volunteers and earlybird runners like me. Most of the
parking spaces have already been taken, so I drove around for a bit looking for
a spot to park. I then joined some runners heading towards what i thought was
the train station – for the train to the start line. The group was actually
going to the shuttle buses – they obviously had pre-paid tickets – i did not. When
i realised this i backtracked quickly, entered a no-through-road or two, before
finding signs to the trains.

At the platform, I joined other runners, more than I was
expecting to see, trying to keep warm – waiting for the next train to Murarrie,
to the start line at the south end of the gateway bridges.

The 05:05 special train (b2b event only) from Albion was
already quite packed when it pulled up. We packed it to capacity in Bowen Hills.
The train picked up some more runners from Fortitude Valley and Central
Stations, but is was SRO from there and all other stops to the Murarrie
terminus. Many other runners were forced to wait for the next special train,
some five minutes behind.

From the Murarrie train station to the start was a good 750m
or so. I jogged and walked briskly to warm up. My watch said 05:50 so I hurried
along around and through the crowds of runners.

I quickly threw off my old jacket and trackpants into a
donation collection bin before joining my race starting zone, just as the
starter set off the wheelchair racer – i think there was only one. I noticed
some green and yellow, even grey-bibbed runners, in the red zone (blue zone =
elites and sub 40minutes, red = sub-50 minutes, green sub-60 minutes, yellow
sub-85 minutes, and grey are walkers). Maybe these sneaky runners are world
class, but what about the rules? There would be chaos if no one followed them.

Just before the race start at 06:10, the greens were allowed
to join the back of the reds. And then the show got on the road.

Every participant in the bridge-to-brisbane run has a story.
Mine is a twice-told tale. I’d like to tell it for the nth time, but it would
be just a rehash of excuses, a sorry tale of woe. I even saw that thing that
really gets my goat. It was a variation but the sign on the back of this girl’s
shirt read: ”I train like a girl.” And she runs like a 'girl' too. I mean it’s fine if she was behind me, but
she was speeding past me like a train, as if i was standing still! Ban those shirts.

So anyway I somehow did a PB for this event. I was thrilled
that I finished about a minute under my best from last year's bridge-to-brisbane. The extra few days of preparation must have helped. I got back
from the gasfields nearly three weeks before the race. I even managed a couple
of runs back in camp. Now there’s a story I can tell. From my tales from a
suitcase.

Sidebar.

Running around camp one day, this pretty young woman
intercepted me. “Hi. Can I run along?” Her name’s Kathy, from the Gold Coast.
She is with the camp management staff. She said, “I saw you jogging around and I
thought that I could keep up with you.”

She of course meant I was slow enough not to leave her
behind. The lap around the camp is about 950m, and I’d already done a couple
and was panting and gasping about to give up, when Cathy hailed me.

It took me a good few seconds to get a reply out, “please do.”

We ran around for a
couple more laps and between panting and catching breath, I tried showing her
the route. Some of the young fellows around the camp looked up admiringly as
Kath and I jogged along. I told her, “Do you know about the emu that roams the
territory around camp?” Katie nodded, "Yes." That's all I got for chit-chat. Emus.

There are rough surfaces around the fences of the camp that
should be avoided, and I told her not to go there. Actually Cath did most of
the talking while I was busy catching my breath and keeping up with her. The
route was indeed a little rough with rocks and holes and even damp spots. Mostly
we ran side by side but I had to concentrate on the curves in front of me when
we ran along in single file, Kathy in front of me – yes those paths are curvy, I almost stumbled
a couple of times. Most of the pipeliners are males, and I asked Cathy, “Does
your boyfriend mind you working here where it’s mostly males?” I think she’s on
a 2-weeks-on, 1-week-off stint. She answered plain and simple, “I’m single.” I
went quiet for a bit. She asked me, “What do you do?” “I do deliveries” I replied, "I can deliver." Kath looked at me with a whodoyouthinkyou'rekidding look and said, “I want to be a truck driver. I want to drive one of those big
mining trucks with wheels bigger than a 10-storey building.” So much for boys
and toys. Katie’s going places I think. Anyway she got bored with old slow me,
and begged off after another lap. I plodded along punishing myself. The boys
raised their eyebrows. One asked, “Where’s your new friend?”. I had to admit
that Cath dumped me after a couple of laps. “She said I’m too old and too slow,”
I said.

Another time, I ran into Therese from the Sunshine Coast.
She’s into walking, a lot. I asked to join her one evening while she was
walking around the mini-oval. I met Therese a few weeks before at the projects office, or maybe the staff room. She’s an environmentalist. I asked her,
“How do you get so slim and all.” She looked at me with a ‘don’t be a smartass’
smile, and I smiled back and said, “Just trying to make some small talk.”
Therese started talking about her kids, and which school they went to. I
thought so much for small talk. She bid good evening and I was by my lonesome
self yet again. Story of my life.

There’s a few other women who work in the gasfields and in
camp. They are all beautiful lovely ladies. Especially after a couple of weeks,
and one drink too many. But one can only take so much rebuff... Two more sleeps
and I’ll be home – to train for the bridge-to-brisbane...

Too much digressing there Martin.
Map of the route below. The run is from east to west.

All the 42,500 entrants are the winners in the bridge-to-Brisbane.
They have taken massive strides toward better health.
Keep up the running, and
have fun.

3 comments:

good onya TOJ. for a while there i thought i was the only deluded jogger around town. if only i can get my wife a-running like yours. then i will sacrifice a PB every race… ah but that’s by-the-by. some friends are talking me into the toowoomba ridge-to-ridge half. am half thinking about it. somehow seems beyond me at this point… might catch you next blog.